Born in Jerusalem, Rabbi Gila Caine, while still a teenager, felt a need for a new spiritual and religious path for herself. After completing her B.A. degree in Sociology and Anthropology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she joined her husband in the northern city of Kiryat Sh’mona. Working with students at Tel Hai College and at the Rape Crisis Center, she understood how this kind of intimate connection with people could be a holy experience, and that becoming a rabbi could help her connect the realms of interpersonal work and leadership in the community as a whole.

Rabbi Caine graduated from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Her rabbinic thesis explored liturgical, spiritual, and ceremonial aspects of labor and delivery in Jewish tradition and contemporary practice. This is part of her search to find more ways in which modern Judaism and contemporary rabbis and spiritual guides can help women and men in all aspects of their lives. She and her family lived in Giv’at Ada and she served as rabbi for a region.

Over the past few years, she has been creating a liberal Jewish presence through connections with the local municipality, schools, and local grass-roots initiatives with the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism. Prior to this, she served as rabbi of Kehillat Brit Olam in Kiryat Ono. She has also helped Hebrew Union College rabbinic students from outside Israel make the adjustment to living there.